Submit

The Chapbook Review welcomes unsolicited submissions from new writers. We’re always looking for experimental and literary chapbook reviews, essays, and interviews that address this unique and vital form from innovative and provocative perspectives. We do not publish fiction or poetry. Please send all queries to thechapbookreview[at]gmail[dot]com

The Chapbook Review runs reviews of literary and experimental fiction and poetry chapbooks. We’ll consider genre chapbooks (please query first). We’re especially interested in works that have been translated into English. Special consideration will be given to works translated from traditionally neglected nations or languages.

The Chapbook Review is published monthly. Submissions are accepted year-round.

Please read the following guidelines for before submitting. These questions and answers are designed to help ensure that it is appropriate to submit your review to us.

Unless you’re specifically revisiting an older title (please query first), chapbooks under review should have been published no more than one year prior to the date the review is submitted. Occasionally, a chapbook’s reissue may warrant a review, and writers are encouraged to submit reviews of chapbooks reissued where appropriate. (If in doubt, query us.) Also of significant interest are out-of-print chapbooks that have recently been brought back into print—these will be treated as new releases.

Chapbook reviews covering a single title should be between 500 and 1500 words. Reviews covering more than one title may run longer.

Essays normally run between 3,000 and 4,000 words. (We will publish longer pieces if they merit the length.) Especially welcome are essays that discuss an older (possibly out-of-print) chapbook that is of substantial literary merit. Essays should go beyond territory covered in chapbook reviews to discuss the work’s place within an author’s oeuvre or as compared to other appropriate chapbooks. Essays not dealing with a specific chapbook, but rather with general literary and artistic concerns regarding chapbooks are also welcome. We especially like essays with a strong personal voice that are willing to address this form in creative ways.

Interviews are usually 2,000 to 3,000 words, although we will publish ones that are shorter or longer. Interview subjects should be authors, editors, translators, or others who have something interesting to say about art and literature.

We request first-time electronic rights with archiving.

To submit, email a query or completed article to The Chapbook Review’s editor, John Madera, at thechapbookreview[at]gmail[dot]com. We hope to respond to queries within a week and submissions in a month. If you have not heard back from us within a month, please contact us.

Don’t place your submission in the body of the email. Please attach it as a Word document (.doc. or .rtf formats). Please include a cover letter in the body of the email along with a 2-3 line bio.

The Chapbook Review currently does not pay contributors for items published in our monthly issues.

Submission Terms and Conditions
1. We publish pieces with first electronic rights. This essentially means that pieces in The Chapbook Review have not been published elsewhere in electronic format.

2. We are always happy when contributors reprint pieces first published in The Chapbook Review. However, we require three month exclusivity on pieces we publish, starting from the publication date of the issue in which the piece is published. We also request attribution on any reprinted pieces, stating that it was first published in The Chapbook Review.

3. The Chapbook Review does not publish material that has already been published elsewhere.

4. We accept simultaneous submissions, provided that this is clearly stated with the submission and that we are promptly notified if a submission is accepted elsewhere.

PublishersThe Chapbook Review is published online monthly. It includes opinionated, insightful reviews of recent works of innovative and experimental literature. The Chapbook Review runs reviews of titles up to a year old. Also of significant interest are out of print works of literature that have recently been brought back into print. These will be treated as new releases.

What genres do you review?
We are open to all genres with special emphasis on literary and experimental fiction and poetry.

Does my chapbook have to be currently published?Yes. We will consider chapbooks that are within a year of being published. We will not review unpublished manuscripts that are currently being shopped around. The chapbook must be readily available to the general public. As long as the chapbook can be obtained by relatively simple means (chapbook stores, large retail web site, mail order, small press web site, etc.), it is acceptable to us.

Does my chapbook have to be published by a large press to get reviewed?
No. We avidly support independent presses. We recognize that not every good chapbook is going to get published by a large press.

Will you accept works electronically published online and may be purchased by downloading it from the web site where it is published?We give priority to printed chapbooks. If your chapbook is available as an online download, your best chance of getting us to review it by sending us printed copies.

What if you dislike my chapbook? Will you publish a negative review?Sending your chapbook is no guarantee that it will be reviewed. If your chapbook is accepted for review, it will be given a fair and balanced assessment.

Will you return my submission to me?
No. We have neither the budget nor the time to return materials to authors or publishers. Review copies of your chapbook are just one of the many promotional expenses related to your work. Don’t forget, promotional expenses are a deductible expense for tax purposes.

How long does it take before a review is posted on your web site?
Generally, if your book is accepted for review you may expect it to be posted to our site within two months of our receiving the chapbook.

How many copies must I submit?
You must submit two copies of your chapbook for review. The first is for the reviewer and the second for the editor for proofing purposes.

Share this:

Like this:

We are a monthly online literary journal focused on the critical examination of the venerable chapbook: slim, soft-cover books, usually inexpensively produced and independently published. While there are countless journals focused on fiction and poetry there are none that focus specifically on this renegade art form. The Chapbook Review seeks ... Continue reading →